"TRULY A LANDMARK IN AMERICAN CULTURE": MCKENNEY AND HALL'S HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA, WITH 120 EXTRAORDINARY HAND-COLORED PORTRAITS OF NATIVE AMERICANS

McKENNEY, Thomas and HALL, James. History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs… Philadelphia: D. Rice and A. N. Hart, 1854. Three volumes. Royal octavo, publisher's full brown morocco expertly rebacked with original spines neatly laid down, blind-tooled boards and spines, raised bands, all edges gilt. $25,000.

Second octavo edition of one of the most recognized and desirable American color plate books produced in the 19th century, illustrated with 120 splendid fully hand-colored lithographic plates by J.T. Bowen after Charles Bird King's original oil paintings, "the most colorful portraits of Indians ever executed" (Howes). Handsome in publisher's deluxe morocco.

Convinced that Indian tribes of North America would soon vanish and their culture be forgotten, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs under four presidents, T. L. McKenney, commissioned this magnificent work to educate the public about Native American culture, and to preserve the images of the greatest warriors and chiefs for posterity in a series of beautiful portraits. Most of the original oil portraits were painted from life in the studio of Charles Bird King, to whom McKenney brought many of the subjects. The rest were copied from watercolors executed in the field by a young frontier artist named James Otto Lewis. Once finished the portraits were housed in the Smithsonian, where they remained until an 1865 fire burned down the institution and destroyed most of the paintings. As a result the rare folio and the splendid octavo editions are vital and important for their "faithful recording of the features and dress of celebrated American Indians who lived and died long before the age of photography… McKenney's portfolios are truly a landmark in American culture" (McKenney-Hall Portrait Gallery, 23). Howes M129. Sabin 43411. Field 992. Early ownership signature of James Aitken Meigs, noted Philadelphia physician, teacher and anthropologist, in each volume.

Handsome full publisher's morocco very neatly rebacked with original spines laid down; a few small scuffs, minor color restoration to extremities. Plates extraordinarily clean and bright. An excellent copy, expertly refurbished.